Few in Welsh rugby will be sorry to see the curtain having fallen on the end of a seriously tough United Rugby Championship season for the regions.
Ultimately, not one of them qualified for the playoffs. There again, perhaps few expected any of them to, given the off-field issues in Welsh rugby with wages being cut and jobs being lost. Anyway, the close of the league campaign for the Welsh teams allows us to reflect on what has happened and what might unfold next term.
Here are the four sides assessed:
CARDIFF
URC position: 10th
Despite finishing as the top Welsh region in the league, in 10th position, Cardiff have experienced a campaign which has been turbulent and also sad with the passing of major benefactor and life president Peter Thomas, a man who gave his all for the betterment of the club.
Jarrod Evans and Dillon Lewis are leaving for Harlequins and Josh Navidi has retired as player, while director of rugby Dai Young has been suspended amid alleged complaints against him from club staff.
Cardiff have also been operating in the shadow of Welsh rugby’s great financial woe, with reports that players on salaries of up to £250,000 had been offered new deals of just £30,000 a year.
Against such a backdrop, the club have shown some resilience on the pitch to finish just four points shy of the playoffs. They have found a front-row to give them a measure of stability at the sharp end and their backs have been dazzling at times, but their lineout has been a problem and so has their consistency.
Navidi’s injury and bumps to Willis Halaholo, Liam Williams and Dmitri Arhip haven’t helped, but Cardiff have benefited from the class of Taulupe Faletau, Rhys Priestland and Rey Lee-Lo with Thomas Young, Jarrod Evans, Josh Adams and Tomos Williams all to the fore as well.
With three wins more than any other of their regional rivals, they are deserved winners of the Welsh Shield. It's not the finest achievement of an operation steeped in history, but it's something and it gives Cardiff a ticket to ride in the European Cup next term.
Star player: Taulupe Faletau: He has brought solid gold quality with him almost every time he has taken the field. Thomas Young has also been exceptional.
Best URC display: To win 35-0 against the Sharks in South Africa was extraordinary.
Great entertainer: Jarrod Evans takes some beating.
What’s in store for next season? Let’s see who’s on Cardiff’s full list of leavers, but the signs are not exactly bright. Playing in the Heineken Champions Cup carries no small prestige but it’s asking a lot — and we are talking serious understatement there — to expect a side with such potentially reduced financial circumstances to be properly competitive against significantly better resourced rivals. With a less powerful squad, Cardiff face challenges in the URC, too. They are going to need their young players to step up.
DRAGONS
Position: 15th.
The Dragons waved goodbye during the season to Dean Ryan as director of rugby, with Dai Flanagan taking over as team boss. It was always going to be a big ask for a young coach in Flanagan, and four wins in the league do not exactly suggest mountains have been moved.
But some of the coaching at the Dragons has been innovative and Flanagan has impressed with his player management and pronouncements in the media. The Dragons still have work to do to toughen their culture, though, and make the kind of display they produced against the Scarlets on Saturday their default setting. Too often a step forward has been followed by three back.
A six-month run without a league win, the lot of the Dragons before the success against the Scarlets, is something that should acutely hurt a squad with no small amount of talent.
In mitigation, losing Will Rowlands early in the campaign was a blow that would have hurt any side. It left the Dragons underpowered in the front-five and they didn’t exactly frighten opponents with their scrummaging. Did they give Sam Davies enough game-time? Some would doubt it, but their main problems were at forward, where they weren’t dominant enough.
Star player: Angus O’Brien. One of Welsh rugby’s most underrated players has had an outstanding campaign, with Bradley Roberts at the head of the back-up cast.
Best URC display: Their autumn win over the Ospreys showed the Dragons at their best.
Great entertainer: Rio Dyer didn’t exactly disappear in a puff of smoke in the seventh minute of the first game on Saturday, but Ryan Conbeer will still be wondering where the Dragons went as he set up a try for Jordan Williams.
What’s in store for next season? Finishing with a Judgement Day win will send the Dragons into the summer with encouragement, but they will turn up for next term with Rowlands, Ross Moriarty and Davies having left the region, plus the likes of Ben Fry, who never gave less than 100% for the cause.
That said, the Dragons many not be as heavily hit as some of their Welsh rivals. They may even quietly fancy their chances of improving on their admittedly modest position in the table and finishing above some of the local opposition in the URC table.
It’s not exactly a great sell for the 2023-24 campaign, to improve on 15th position, but that is where the Dragons are at. Their initial goal should be to increase their resolve in the front five and become harder to beat. They could also do with Will Reed developing quickly and Ben Carter continuing to progress.
OSPREYS
URC position: 13th
"There have been times this season when we've been eight, nine or even 10 out of 10. But there have been times, like today, which have been a two." So said Dewi Lake after the Ospreys’ loss to Cardiff at the weekend. It was a brutally honest verdict but it was also right.
The Ospreys may have performed in Europe but in the league they have been poor, with just five wins to show for their efforts. Impressive displays against Glasgow Warriors, Scarlets and Dragons, at home, turned out to be islands of encouragement in a sea of ordinariness. Thrashings at the hands of Ulster, Edinburgh and Munster were lows while the Swansea.com Stadium region rounded off an underwhelming URC campaign with a sub-standard display against Cardiff.
Gareth Anscombe missed a lot of the campaign through injury, while the Ospreys also lost Justin Tipuric, Jac Morgan and Dan Lydiate at key points and found it hard to get the best out of their back line, notwithstanding the strong form of Keiran Williams. They have lacked creativity and could do with more ball-carrying impetus up front, with Morgan Morris exempt from any criticism in that respect.
Nor has having so many players in the Wales set-up helped. But however you cut it, just five wins from 18 league games is not a pleasing statistic for anyone at the Ospreys to mull over.
Star player: Morgan Morris kept his standards high to the very end, leading the way for the Ospreys with Keiran Williams not far behind and Nicky Smith also showing up well.
Best URC display: It didn't get much better than the home win over Glasgow.
Great entertainer: Not too many rabbits pulled from hats or cards pulled from sleeves in the league by the Ospreys this season, though Keelan Giles had his moments early in the season.
What’s in store for next season? The Ospreys face similar challenges to this season in that a lot of their players are likely to be called on by Wales, especially up front. For a squad reduced in numbers and quality, that will mean having to rely on young players more than ever before.
The Ospreys haven’t issued a list of players leaving the region, but Joe Hawkins and Ethan Roots have left and more will follow. Alun Wyn Jones can’t go on forever and it may be he has already played his final game for the team he has represented with such distinction for close on 18 years, while there is uncertainty over Gareth Anscombe. Can the Ospreys get the best out of George North? If they can, it will be a huge plus but creating more opportunities for the big man is a work-on.
That said, the Ospreys should still have significant quality in their squad in the likes of Morgan Morris, Williams, Justin Tipuric, Jac Morgan, Nicky Smith, Adam Beard, Owen Watkin, Keiran Williams, Gareth Thomas, Dewi Lake, Rhys Davies, Keelan Giles and more, with Harri Deaves and Iestyn Hopkins coming through on the conveyor belt.
The challenge will be to improve on their modest placing in the league. A weaker squad may not find the going easy, but they will not be burdened by expectation. None of the Welsh sides will be.
SCARLETS
URC position: 14th.
The Scarlets found it hard to recover from a woeful start to the league season that saw them win just one of their 10 games. Injuries hit them hard in those early months, but some of their performances were way below the standards Dwayne Peel would have wanted.
There was a pick-up in URC performances. And Peel’s side have an EPCR Challenge Cup semi-final to look forward to this weekend.
But they have performed patchily in the league over the campaign with heavy home defeats at the hands of Ulster and Leinster days to forget.
Star imports Sione Kalamafoni, Sam Lousi and Vaea Fifita have delivered, mind, with all three exceptional. But more has been needed and the Scarlets could do with Ryan Elias staying fit next term and their young props continuing to develop.
Like the Ospreys, they are not a side who will be satisfied with finishing in such a lowly position in the table.
Star player: Sione Kalamafoni hit a run of form over the first half of the season that could be fairly described as sensational, so he’s the pick here, with Sam Lousi next best and Vaea Fifita up there as well.
Best URC display: The 32-20 success over a fully-loaded Sharks team was a serious performance and a stunning result.
Great entertainer: Vaea Fifita has been extraordinary in some games.
What’s in store next season? The loss of Aaron Shingler will hurt the Scarlets lineout, while Sione Kalamafoni’s departure is a hammer blow, even if he is 34. Leigh Halfpenny will take with him a lot of class and experience as well.
An improvement in the front-five is needed but the Scarlets will still have Lousi and Fifita further back with class behind, with Ioan Lloyd adding to their quality.
They will hope to have more than just two sides below them in the table this time next year. Is attack coach Lee Blackett staying with them? He has made an impact since his mid-season arrival and it would be a plus if he did stick around, but let’s see how his situation unfolds.
The Scarlets will be desperate to get better while staying true to the attractive brand of rugby that’s long been synonymous with the club. Their goals will be realistic given the financial constraints they’ll be under. It may be hard to make the playoffs but they’ll hope to start next term more strongly than they did this season and build from there.
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